Hawks' Suhonen Is Out

Heart Condition Reason

Savard To Run Bench

March 28, 2001|By Neil Milbert, Tribune staff reporter.

The Blackhawks coaching career of Alpo Suhonen ended Tuesday when General Manager Mike Smith announced the philosophical native of Finland is being given a medical leave of absence because of "a serious but not life-threatening" heart condition.

For the remaining seven games of the season, assistant coaches Denis Savard and Al MacAdam will be in charge of the team. "Denis will run the bench and Al will try to do most of the preparation," said Smith.

Smith indicated Savard's stint as head coach after four seasons as an assistant will be a short-term assignment.

"In all probability, in the middle part of April we will begin to look for a coach," Smith said. "Someone with a lot of coaching experience. Ideally, you'd like it done by mid-June.

"This happened [Monday] night about 10:30. I'm not prepared to stand here and talk about a coaching process when I haven't even thought about a coaching process.

"I think it's in Alpo's best interest to be placed on medical leave. It would be nice to take a sabbatical but it's unfortunate--in our business you can't take a sabbatical. It's important that the team knows who the coach is and who's in charge."

Suhonen has had a year of unrelenting pressure with more emotional downers than uppers. His bottom line is a 29-35-7-4 record. His tenure ends amid a four-game losing streak.

By NHL standards, Suhonen's coaching style was unconventional. He refused to lambaste his players after poor performances, and rather than punishing them with a grueling practice, he often gave them the next day off. In each of the last three weeks, Suhonen took a practice day off to visit the doctor.

"He had a sore calf," said Smith. "That led to some other exams and that led to a stress test. A week ago [Tuesday] we were at a meeting talking about some training techniques. He got a call on his cell phone, telling him to come in for a stress test and an angiogram [Monday].

"The doctors determined there's a little bit of blockage in one of the arteries. The extent of this condition at this time is not where he'd need surgery. Alpo is going to have to develop a lifestyle quite a bit healthier than he has had in the past.

"The world changes when people find out their health is not what they thought it was. There's a history of heart disease in his family. His father passed away quite young--47 years old--with a heart problem."

Suhonen spent most of Monday in Northwestern Memorial Hospital. MacAdam drove him home from the hospital after he was discharged.

MacAdam was asked if he thought the pressure of coaching had taken a toll. "If you lose, there's a discomfort level," he said. "If you don't make the playoffs, there's a discomfort level. We kind of talked about it, but only skimmed the surface."

"I had no idea there was anything wrong with him," said Bob Probert. "It's unfortunate. All things considered, I thought he did a great job. I'm sure that Savvy and Al will step in and do the job the rest of the way. Savvy has been around the team for a few years. He has worked hard; everybody knows him and respects him."

Goaltender Jocelyn Thibault concurred. "I didn't notice anything different from the start of the season until three days ago," he said. "Alpo never panicked. We always thought he was in control."

Savard said he doesn't plan to make any changes. "I'm going to continue to preach what Alpo has been preaching," he said. "We'll stick with things he has done all year. Al and I will run practices together.

"From being around Alpo, the last week or 10 days you could tell his mind wasn't really there--that something was bothering him. We were losing and inside he took it hard."

The Hawks went into the season with high hopes of making the playoffs for the first time since 1996-97. But they got off to a 2-7-0-1 start. They seemed to have gotten their act together on their seven-game November trip. Then, in early December they faltered again--losing five in a row--and it appeared Suhonen's job might be in jeopardy.

Later, they went on a 10-2-2 roll climaxed by a Jan. 19 victory over Southeast Division leader Washington that gave them a .500 record after 46 games. But then the Hawks were hit by an injury epidemic, with such key players as Alex Zhamnov, Jaroslav Spacek and Boris Mironov out for extended periods.

Coinciding with the current four-game losing streak was a breakdown in esprit de corps during Sunday's 3-1 loss to Calgary. There was turmoil on the bench during the game and tempers again flared during a 45-minute players-only meeting following the contest.

Suhonen suggested the meeting. It turned out to be the last move he made as coach of the Hawks.